DESCRIPTION: The goal of this five year research demonstration and education project is to design, implement, and evaluate a multi-component theory-based program for reducing asthma morbidity in inner city minority children ages 5-14 yrs. The experimental intervention, called Stop Asthma, will be implemented jointly by investigators at the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston, and Macro International Inc. The Children's Asthma Center and the General Clinical Research Center at Texas Children's Hospital will serve as the primary sites for the project. The investigators will enroll 150 subjects in the intervention group and 150 subjects in the control group and will follow both groups for a period of two years. The Stop Asthma program is a clinically integrated, individually tailored behavioral intervention that combines medical care and self-management strategies to influence the behavior of patients, families, and health care providers. Both the medical care and self-management interventions will include environmental control components. The indoor environmental intervention will be tailored to patients by assessment via a home environmental checklist, allergen skin testing, and smoking exposure via passive nicotine monitors. The investigators will link the behavioral strategies and medical care with interactive computer technology and group discussion using 4-6 families at a time during clinic visits. Major outcome variables will be symptom days and nights, emergency care visits, hospitalizations, functional status, quality of life, and impact on family. In addition, the project will measure the cost-effectiveness of the intervention. The principal investigator, Stuart Abramson, M.D., Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and of Microbiology and Immunology and Associate Director of Clinical Research and Health Professional Education at The Children's Asthma Center at Texas Children's Hospital. Also from the Baylor College of Medicine: Marianna M. Sockrider, M.D., Ph.D., and Barbara West, M.D., both are Assistant Professors of Pediatrics; Danita Czyzewski, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine; and Ben Interiano, M.D., is Medical Director of the Asthma Institute of Houston. From the University of Texas School of Public Health: L. Kay Bartholomew, Ed.D., MPH, is currently Principal Investigator of the Interactive Computerized Asthma Patient Education Intervention and Assistant Professor of Behavioral Sciences; Susan Tortolero, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor; Guy Parcel, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Health Promotion Research and Development and is also Professor of Behavioral Sciences; Patricia Mullen, MPH, DrPH, is Deputy Director of the Center for Health Promotion Research & Development and Professor of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education; Janet Groff, M.D., MPH and Maria Fernandez, Ph.D., are postdoctoral fellows, and Ronald Harris, Ph.D., is a statistician. From Macro International, Inc.: Robert Gold, Ph.D., is Vice President and Senior Science Advisor; Nancy Meyer, MS, is Project Director; James Craver, MA, is Research Analyst; and Susan Allison, MA, is Research Associate.